Home » Hanafi Fiqh » Fatwa.org.au » Ghaib janaza

Ghaib janaza

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Fatwa.org.au
Please tell me about ghaib janaza: Did the Prophet (s.a.w.) offer this? If so, how many times and in which situations? Can we offer ghaib janaza?

Jazakallah for your great effort.

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

For the salatul janaza to be valid, it is a condition that the corpse of the deceased is present and that it is placed infront of the imam leading the salatul janazah. If the corpse of the deceased is not infront of the imam, the salatul janaza will not be valid.

The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) offered the salatul janaza of An-Najashi (the king of Abyssinia) – although it apparently seemed that his corpse was not present – because his corpse was brought infront of the Prophet (sallallahu wa alaihi wa sallam) as a way of miracle when he led the salatul janaza. Many sahabah witnessed this miraculous event. A similar miraculous event occurred when the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) offered the salatul janaza of Mu’awiyah ibn Mu’awiyah al-Muzani (Radiyallahu Anhu). Hence, it is not correct to use these two incidents to justify offering the salatul janaza of a deceased person when his corpse is not present infront of the imam.

(I’laa’ as-Sunan: 8/283; Imdaad al-Fattaah: 581; Badaa’i’ as-Sanaa’i’: 1/462)

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Faizal Riza
16/4/2012

This answer was collected from Fatwa.org.au, which is connected to Darul Ifta Australia, based in Melbourne, Australia.
It is operated by Mufti Faizal Riza, a student of Mufti Ebrahim Desai from South Africa.

Read answers with similar topics: